With the deadline to fill Tom Dowling's empty seat fast approaching, Lafayette's City Council will decide Tuesday night how best to facilitate the appointment process.

Officials will choose whether to interview every candidate, or instead narrow the pool down to the top candidates to condense the process.

However, a larger-than-expected applicant pool could tip officials' hands towards a screening approach.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, when the application deadline passed, 17 Lafayette residents had thrown their hats into the ring.

Of the residents who applied came some familiar names, including two former mayors — Frank Phillips and Chris Berry — and current Historic Preservation Board Chairwoman Rebecca Schwendler.

Since Dowling announced his resignation plans last month, residents have speculated as to what route officials would take to appoint a new council member. At the most recent council meeting, residents in attendance urged Lafayette leaders to conduct interviews for all applicants to promote better transparency.

"I would like to see people apply for an open City Council position," said resident Vicky Uhland. "Then each one of them (would be) interviewed by the whole council and then council (would) vote on the candidate at a meeting in which there is also dedicated time for public input."

"I also suggest candidate interviews be videotaped so that members of the public who can't attend can watch them online," she said.

Any vacancy that occurs in the council more than 90 days before the next regular city election needs to be filled within 30 days with a vote by the remaining members of the council, according to the city's charter.

Whoever is appointed to fill Dowling's seat will only be guaranteed a spot until next year's regular election.

While officials will conduct an interview process to fill the vacancy, the city's charter gives council members substantial flexibility to appoint temporary members.

"There's a 30-day window for when the council accepts the resignation to when they have to act," City Administrator Gary Klaphake said last month. "The clock starts on July 19 and then they must invent the process. Other than that, it's whatever they decide to do. They are only bound by that timeline."

When presented with a situation similar to this in the past, the council chose to advertise for a replacement, or it simply knew of a candidate willing to join and then appointed him or her, according to Klaphake.

Leading up to Tuesday's meeting, council members have debated the merits of both the screening interview process and the option to interview all 17 applicants. Though some are concerned that interviewing such a large number of candidates would prevent any in-depth examination, others on the council see it as an issue of transparency.

"I get that it could potentially be time consuming," Councilwoman Alexandra Lynch said. "But I really feel that the whole process needs to take place in public meetings.

"If (applicants) meet the most basic criteria of what's in the charter, then (they) are part of the interview pool. Then all of those interviews take place in a public meeting that's televised; the screening thing just feels as backroom as can be."

Though too late to be brought to this year's ballot, both Lafayette residents and officials have voiced the need for more deliberate language toward filling council vacancies outside of the election period.

"The city charter is nebulous about how candidates are chosen in order to be voted on for a vacant City Council seat," Uhland said. "In fact, the charter language for filling a Planning Commission vacancy is more stringent and involved than it is for a vacancy for an elected position like City Council."

"I don't think we can get it on the ballot this fall because it's way too quick," Councilman Brad Wiesley said last month. "I think we ought to do some work on this for 2017 to clarify the charter as to how this process works. This year (it's) too soon, not enough time; next year we can do it right and get it done."

Interviews — whether of all or just the top applicants —are tentatively scheduled for Aug. 10. They will be open to the public and will be recorded so residents not in attendance can watch them.

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